LFS News - lfsnews.net - Active?

[Tweaker]

Anyone feel that LFS News needs some content and a bit more activity??? A while back they were really good with some interesting reads, but now I go back quite often and it is the same top news and nothing particularly interesting (because it is old). Not a lot of official news is around about LFS, but there are some things going on in the community and leagues, right?

http://www.lfsnews.net/

[bo-kristiansen]

Been ages since ive visited that site. -for the reason u said.

- a news site with... ...no news. :scratchch

[Richard Torp]

I mailed them something about the danish championship 2 weeks ago, but no one noticed it i guess..:scratchch

But it seems to be dead, sadly enough....

[Vykos69]

Well, vectrex, the admin is "kind of" (a lot) busy IRL atm. I'm packed with stuff too, and the most important guys, the writers, dont contribute atm. We'll see, what we can do about some sort of "relaunch" ;)

[Dajmin]

I'm all for keeping news pages filled with actual news, but I can't say I'm all that fussed about seeing just race results - the league/club websites will already have those to check.

I think it'd be nice if there was some kind of up-to-date blog or something we could read and comment on. Something that any of the 3 guys could write in, telling us what they're doing or what they're thinking about.

Just so that we know what's going on and that they've not forgotten us :)

[pjslva]

You can get the results elsewhere, but LFS News usually gives a little more insight into the events so it's not exactly the same thing, is it? Some of these reports are actually entertaining stuff IMO

[Tweaker]

Well, vectrex, the admin is "kind of" (a lot) busy IRL atm. I'm packed with stuff too, and the most important guys, the writers, dont contribute atm. We'll see, what we can do about some sort of "relaunch" ;)
It doesn't really need a relaunch, it just needs admins who can control it better. If Vectrex is the only one primarily in control, and some things need to go through him... then that is kind of a one-man news resource if you think about it. It should really be a larger group of editors and admins if it was going to be a decent LFS news resource.

I've always wondered why the staff is so slow, and kind of figured Vectrex was the only head person running it :shrug:

[Tyrion]

I think you're right Tweaker.If I remember correctly, when I was part of the editor team there were 3 chief editors (who were in charge of the general lfs-news).If 2 of them at least are busy with RL stuff it's going to have an effect on updates of course.

The race reports themselves are not interesting or relevant enough for the broad majority I think, so what you need is a steady stream of news on top of the race reports, league news, people joining teams and such.It worked quite well in the past, and I'm sure it could again.And I can't imagine it would be very hard finding additional people that would like to help out if Veccie and Vykos can't find the time for it atm :)

[VecTreX]

Ok, I'll cut in here and explain a bit...

The site is obviously quite dead/inactive now, I can't deny that.

To cut a long story short this is of course partly my fault, but there're also a few factors I can't control. One important factor is the appreciation from the visitors of all the work the newswriters put into writing articles, and this already began to go slightly downhill back when I removed the ability to post comments anonymously. Articles with almost no comments will seem like no-one care about/reads the articles, and is what I believe caused the drop of news activity in general. Another thing is that I can't/won't force people to post news/articles or comments for that matter. On top of that I started to get more and more inactive and had less time to keep up with all the good stuff going on.

As "the head person" of the site I know I maybe should've done some things differently, like for example getting new/more staff members long time ago.

About the "one-man news resource" thing I have to add this: I control the site yes, but since the start I've always given people access when they asked for it, or permission to post in another section if that was the case. Regarding preferences of admins and chief-editors, the only difference is that they can put news to top news, and admins can delete news.

The future?

Well, if there's anyone here who's willing to help updating the site, and have at least a little knowledge from doing similar things, you are more than welcome to join. I can setup email accounts to those wanting one, and forward news emails as well. I can also give more control to a selected group of people who can be trusted and control it properly (although it's not really that much more that can be controlled).

The "up-to-date blog" idea Dajmin mentions is a good idea I think, and kinda reminds me of RudiTurbo's hotlap news, which were quite popular back then. Any similar blog alike thing might be interesting for people to read, if there's anyone with interesting things to say.

On a final note I'd like apologize to those who have sent emails, and got no response in the past few months. It has been a busy summer...

[Tweaker]

Yeah I know how it is VecTreX.

I just was curious what might happen to LFS News because the only thing you could do is recruit some new admins that are willing to post articles, but most of all manage it. I don't think it would be hard to choose any new candidates, there are plenty of great people that could help with news on the site.

Since the last news post on LFS News, there has been quite a lot happening in leagues.... results for seasons coming soon, new seasons/leagues announced, etc. I would just suggest having people apply for an LFS News Editor or Staff position, it's the only thing to keep it alive. Because not a lot of people are visiting it anymore... and we can't keep coming back to the same news post for a month or more :( :o

[Scawen]

One important factor is the appreciation from the visitors of all the work the newswriters put into writing articles, and this already began to go slightly downhill back when I removed the ability to post comments anonymously. Articles with almost no comments will seem like no-one care about/reads the articles, and is what I believe caused the drop of news activity in general.Yes it's a pity that you need to create an account to post now. I guess people just don't want to create yet another account, have their email in yet another database and have to remember another password and so on...

What was the problem with anonymous posting?

Were spam bots writing on the site? Could you get round that with a number authorisation like on this site? http://www.michael-please-stay-in-f1.com/

Or were people posting as someone else? Maybe you could have an optional login, where you don't need to give an email address, and that could stop other people posting in your name, but still allow anonymous posting with unregistered name?

Just suggestions, I'm not experienced with websites so I don't know if it would work, but I did notice the massive dropoff of comments and missed seeing them some time ago. :( I hope some people want to write at LFS News again because it's a nice site. :smileypul

[nikimere]

would be better if something could be done with Victor so the login tied in with you LFSW login details

[Hyperactive]

would be better if something could be done with Victor so the login tied in with you LFSW login details

But that is a bit risky (no pun intended) because Scavier would be giving the user/password lists to 3rd party web site...?

Maybe the site could get more hits if it was somehow integrated with this forum?

[the_angry_angel]

Were spam bots writing on the site? Could you get round that with a number authorisation like on this site? http://www.michael-please-stay-in-f1.com/Unfortunately captcha's, as they are known, aren't a very good option. Screen-readers cant understand them, which is unfortunately. Perhaps ironically a lot of blog / forum spamming software implements OCR technology to get around it, more often than not much better than a screen reader :( (see: http://sam.zoy.org/pwntcha/)

Real time block lists (akismet), word filters, url counts, referal ip filters, in combination all help by far more than captcha's these days. So there are solutions out there :)

I have to agree that LFS-news was a valued resource, and where possible I'll volunteer myself to assist and help out :)

[VecTreX]

What was the problem with anonymous posting?
People posting as someone else, spam(not bots) and some illegal stuff were the main reasons back then... It had come to a point where it happened very often and was quite annoying and misleading.

... and where possible I'll volunteer myself to assist and help out :)
Sounds cool :cool: (check your PM)

[AndroidXP]

Now that's a creative solution to spambots :D

[Tweaker]

:( Not even any news since July. There has been a lot going on since then. League champions, new leagues starting, big events, etc etc.

It is nice to see it all summarized in one site, but is anything going to happen? :o

[Scawen]

...but is anything going to happen? :oI hope so, but a few people will need to write to Vectrex and volunteer as Admins or article writers. :up:

Well, if there's anyone here who's willing to help updating the site, and have at least a little knowledge from doing similar things, you are more than welcome to join. I can setup email accounts to those wanting one, and forward news emails as well. I can also give more control to a selected group of people who can be trusted and control it properly (although it's not really that much more that can be controlled).

[VecTreX]

Well, what can I say... The queue of volunteers is quite empty atm.

I guess posting news/articles isn't the most attractive "job" these days, or maybe the site just needs to be updated to suit the needs of today.
:( Not even any news since July. There has been a lot going on since then. League champions, new leagues starting, big events, etc etc.
I've actually thought about taking site down many times since then, exactly because of that, and because I don't like seeing the site "untouched" myself. But I always changed my mind and let it stay there, sort of acting as an archive rather than a news site, for those few who still browse the site.

I have no intention of closing the site at all, and things will probably change sooner or later. I have plenty of things I want to add or do to the site, and right now I just wish I had a button I could click, and my thoughts were converted to code (I guess Scawen would like the same sometimes). New content is of course needed, and I also want to get back at posting news again... When that time comes I don't know, but I hope soon.

[Tweaker]

Well for news reports of events and big 'happenings', I am sure anyone would be available to do that. I'd offer to do it even, since that isn't much of a hard job or anything. Writing long articles of a race, well they are nice to read, but not every one of them is necessary to have on LFS News imo. They could always have a good report on your site, or their own league site somewhere.

As long as there is some updates on what is going on with LFS and the community, you can just have small news reports that aren't too long, and the site will easily be active again. There are many new leagues, quite a few big events, and the onslaught of new patches/updates from the devs is really prevalent at the moment. What you need to do is have news that is exclusively on LFS News only, so that people will link the story to others, and expand its appeal to other simmers.

I'd hate to see the site go down myself because LFS's large community-connected sites are slowly going downhill right now if something isn't done. And in my opinion it just kills LFS and its exposure. I've hit myself many times over not getting LFS Files back up in time, but it is "time and money", and its relaunch is something I highly anticipate. So I can see where you are coming from with how you feel about wanting to change it or do something new. But all I can say is, it hurts LFS as a whole when sites like these aren't around or active :(

[VecTreX]

Just a quick note here to let you know I've made a news post on LFS News about getting new newswriters, and starting a potential community blog.

www.lfsnews.net

Check it out :)

[Chris P]

A small update:

There are now 4 admins and 1 webmaster (being VecTrex) and together we're discussing options etc. behind the scenes.
All emails to LFS News will be forwarded to me (at least, not sure about the others) and for the time being there shouldn't be any delays to me reacting to them.

Please let your fellow racers know that LFS News will, hopefully, be back soon! :thumb:

[Richard Torp]

Thats great...:thumb:

[dungbeetle]

Here's a content suggestion.

How about a single, comprehensive and easy to view list of all forthcoming race events (say a month or so ahead of time) from all the various LFS leagues and competitions, including details of race times and whether or not non-participants are able to spectate? Each league or competition could send their information to LFS News, and everyone would know that LFSN is the place to check for all forthcoming events.

Sorry if this already exists somewhere, but I've been unable to find it if it does - and if it does, can someone tell me where I can find it! :)

[Chris P]

Something similar to BBC Sport's football website? With the football teams being racingteams and Premiership, SPL etc. being the leagues.

We would have to discuss it with the main man, but I like the idea!

[VecTreX]

All emails to LFS News will be forwarded to me (at least, not sure about the others) and for the time being there shouldn't be any delays to me reacting to them.
I also get them ;)

Only news sent to news@lfsnews.net are forwarded btw :)

Here's a content suggestion.

How about a single, comprehensive and easy to view list of all forthcoming race events (say a month or so ahead of time) from all the various LFS leagues and competitions, including details of race times and whether or not non-participants are able to spectate? Each league or competition could send their information to LFS News, and everyone would know that LFSN is the place to check for all forthcoming events.

Sorry if this already exists somewhere, but I've been unable to find it if it does - and if it does, can someone tell me where I can find it! :)
Heh, I have 3-4 bigger things I want to add to the site, and that's actually one them :)

Thanx for the announcement Scawen :cool:

[dungbeetle]

Heh, I have 3-4 bigger things I want to add to the site, and that's actually one them :)

So is there no where else (apart from occasional posts in the league forums) to get this information at the moment?

[VecTreX]

So is there no where else (apart from occasional posts in the league forums) to get this information at the moment?
There might be a few smaller lists somewhere, but a complete list of all events I believe not. I haven't found one yet at least :)

[Viper93]

I have an issue with the site, I cannot create a user account. It doesn't do anything, every time I click register it just refreshes the screen.

[VecTreX]

I have an issue with the site, I cannot create a user account. It doesn't do anything, every time I click register it just refreshes the screen.
Make sure your browser accepts cookies :)

[VecTreX]

Just a little info...

As some of you know from my last news this Friday, my web-host are updating their servers. Unfortunately the IP addresses changed and I'm still waiting for the info so I can update the DNS records to point to the new IPs.

I'm hoping to get everything up and running tomorrow :)

[Chris P]

Yeah, Jemdna and I were already wondering what had happened. :shrug:

Thanks for the clarification! :thumb:

[VecTreX]

The DNS records have been updated and the site is up again...

At least I can see it now :)

[GianniC]

Good to see it's back :thumb:

[kamo2000]

Just wanted to say that when clicking on random screenshot i got The page cannot be found error.

[Vain]

Works perfectly here.
Win Xp Sp2 / Firefox 1.5.0.8

Vain

[GianniC]

Perhaps a small idea... We have now several people working hard on the LFSNews, who get everyone its support cause so far they doing nice work!, but why not involve the community (a bit more)?

I was thinking: make a new subforum where the mods have rights and the LFSN people also have rights.

If someone races a league which is less in the spotlights or I don't know, a quiet remarkable teamchange happends or other general related LFS stuff, people can write their own article's, post them in the subforum part and the people from LFSN can still decide: add it to LFSN or not ?

Just an idea so we keep getting an income of News, even if (e.g) Vectrex or others have it very busy in real life. We get a constant feedback of News. We get to see the "less" important things that happen in LFS also. We still get the big news from the how the Aliens got another victory, .... And by letting the LFSN staff read everything first before it's being posted you get a certain quality security. Frankly I only see benefits...

Perhaps changing the looks of the News page itself would be asked then, so we can see more articles on one and the same page (next to each other instead of long columns?).

Just an idea... :)

GC

[ORION]

short:
- users may submit news
- mods decide if they're worth uploading

:P

ps. I didnt know u can also write sentences, not just single smap words :P :D lol

[VecTreX]

As said before I have a few things I want to add to the site, and one of the most important things is the "submit news", and I really want it too :)

GianniC: I like the idea about the "subforum" or section and I can see your point about getting more "less" important stuff on the site, so a section for user submitted news might be good. I'll definitely look into it :)

I also want to redesign / restructure the site, but I can't tell when it'll be done :)

[GianniC]

short:
- users may submit news
- mods decide if they're worth uploading

:P

ps. I didnt know u can also write sentences, not just single smap words :P :D lol

Didn't knew if Vectrex would get it.
Used My Translation Monkey (MTM abreviated) to make those long things for me :sorry:
:monkey:

Ah good to see you were thinking at the same level Vectrex, I have fully confident in your work and the work of the other LFSN people. We'll see it when it's ready, as long as it has (high) quality. Just as LFS ;)

[ORION]

vec did you make the new logo btw? its very good :)

[VecTreX]

vec did you make the new logo btw? its very good :)
Yep and thanks :)

[Chris P]

Just another reminder.

LFS News would be glad to post your team's or league's news! Just send an email containing the article and whatever images you would like us to place.

[Becky Rose]

I haven't posted anything in a while because it's xmas break for my league. I do still support LFS News though :) Keep up the great site and you'll hear more from me when I think the community has recovered from being sick to death of hearing those four letters over and over again ;)...

[GianniC]

Not 'STCCC' I hope :P

I'll keep it in mind, now something needs to happen in my team *hmm* :razz:

[ekze]

Is it possible to post news about reopening of our league? ( http://lfsclub.liveforspeed.com.ru ), i've tried to write an e-mail to you, but your mail-server seems to block any mail from *.ru....
What should i do?

[UncleBenny]

Is it possible to post news about reopening of our league? ( http://lfsclub.liveforspeed.com.ru ), i've tried to write an e-mail to you, but your mail-server seems to block any mail from *.ru....
What should i do?

You should bump a year old thread and ask there.

[ekze]

Oh really, lol? Of course much better idea was to make new topic with this stupid question?

[UncleBenny]

The "Send a private message to..." button springs to mind.

[ekze]

Of course I've tried it, yesterday sent PM to Tweaker, no response...

[hughesie89]

how do you add content to it?

[[SWE]RE]

how do you add content to it?

You do realize that you just bumped a thread that's 2 years old? And the guy who created the thread haven't been on these forums since the 30th november last year. lol. :]

[hughesie89]

ooops didn't check the last post date

[Bob Smith]

Moved your posts to the more recent LFS News thread (this one only had a 1 year bump).